By Tink's Vacation Planner, Eddie. This past week I had the opportunity to partake at the first ever Disney Villains After Hours event inside Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World® Resort.. In the past I have only done one after hours event -- it was Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. With that experience under my belt I had some sort of an idea of what to expect at this new event, but at the same time I was still very excited to go. It was a VILLAINS event after all! Disney is all about "good" fun, but there is something about our “Bad Guys/Girls” from Disney that just really captured a piece of me. I believe that our celebrated villains prove that Disney can be a little dark and still be cool. The day finally arrives were we will get to party with some of our favorite Disney Villains. I was a little worried as around 3PM it started to rain heavily in the Orlando area. Immediately, I jumped on my weather app hoping to see that the weather would die down in time for the party. To my pleasure, I saw that the rain should decrease by 8PM and stop all together by 10PM. Perfect! That is the time the event officially kicked off.
We left for Walt Disney World® a little early as we knew we could get into the park prior to 10 and get our wristbands for the event. We walked into the Magic Kingdom around 7pm that evening. We were greeted with a glossy purple wristband. On the wristband it read “Disney Villains After Hours” with the hashtag “#VILLAINSAFTERHOURS”. After getting our wristband there was a rather large stand with many event guides for this special event. The event guide was printed on a glossier style paper than the usual park maps are printed and carried some more weight. It felt like these were meant to be extra special and to be collected. Inside the event guide were special treats for the event. Unfortunately, we did not try any of these signature treats this time around. Also noted in the event guide were the list of attractions with their restrictions. In the attractions section there was a note signaling out Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain as they both were noted as “Villainous Adventure”. Right away we made a mental note that we absolutely needed to go on these two rides once the event officially starts. There was a list of where we could find event-exclusive merchandise and face painting. Disney PhotoPass had a special announcement on the guide letting everyone know that there would be event-exclusive photo opportunities including Magic Shots. Lastly, we looked over the entertainment schedule. The special event entertainment in my opinion is what really makes a Disney after hours party something truly special and well worth the price of admission. It was noted that Maleficent (the fire breathing float from the Festival of Fantasy Parade) would make her way around the hub at three different times and there would also be a stage show called Villains Unite the Night that would also be performed three different times. As soon as the party started my group decided we should go hit Space Mountain first. We originally had a fast pass for Space Mountain earlier that day, but received a notification that the fast pass was canceled and we have a couple of options. Our first option was to go on any other attraction at any time with the exception of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before the conclusion of regular park hours. That also included Space Mountain itself. That made our decision that much easier. We entered with our fast pass at Space Mountain at 9:59, that is 1 minute before the conclusion of regular park hours for that day. After checking in with our fast passes, I consulted with a Cast Member to see what time the Villains Adventure would be starting for Space Mountain. To my groups delight we were told it actually started 10 minutes prior to us checking in. Perfect we were going to be walking in with no wait and get to ride Space Mountain’s Villainous Adventure overlay. This was a perfect plan with one exception: a couple hundred other guests had the exact same plan. This took what should have been at most a 10-minute wait into a 40+ minute wait. Needless to say, that cut into a good amount of our event time. We did not let this get us down. The attraction was so much fun as the music was different. I believe I heard the Evil Queen crackle a few times and it was so dark. I literally could not see anything in front of me. After getting off the attraction we were face to face with the special event merchandise. A few different shirt options displaying our favorite villains. There was also a tumbler with the Villains After Hours logo that I nearly purchased. My wife, Zulima, informed us that the event has complimentary treats included. So, do we try a signature treat and pay or should we take advantage of the complimentary treats? We chose to take the free treats. We had quite a few options to choose from. Popcorn, Mickey Ice Cream Bars, Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches, bottled soda, and bottled waters. My wife and I both got Mickey Ice Cream bars and our friend chose to get both ice cream and popcorn. Not a bad idea as this was of course already included. We hung around Tomorrowland for a little while just taking in the eeriness that this Villains event was projecting. The Hades “hair” silhouette was in display all around. This after all was his show. After we finished our treats, we noticed that Maleficent would be going around the hub in roughly 20 minutes. We started to make our way to the hub to see the evil one in person. While exiting Tomorrowland next to were Stitch’s Great Escape attraction used to be was a Photo Pass photographer. On the camera it showed that the photo op would be with Oogey Boogey, the villain of my wife’s favorite movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. What should we do? Of course, we waited to get that picture. After the photo op we finally exited Tomorrowland to see an awesome projection of Disney Villains silhouettes on the rocks by the lake in front of Tomorrowland. After snapping a few pictures, we finally headed to the hub. While walking to the hub you could see laser lights shooting out and the sounds of techno music. It was a full-on DJ party right in front of Cinderella’s Castle. The DJ and atmosphere were amazing it felt like we were at a night club, but no we were at the Magic Kingdom. It was so much fun seeing people dancing and jumping along to the music and laser show, with alll of us eagerly awaiting Maleficent. Suddenly the music changed into something dark and mysterious and everyone got a little louder as we knew this change could only mean she was on her way. In a matter of seconds we see her with her crows walking around the hub and breathing fire. Her fire was perfectly choreographed with the music and just gave off a very “scary” vibe. This made it seem like we were not at Disney anymore. It felt like something different, but really cool. It had a more “adult” feel to this party and it was truly amazing. After Maleficent made her way around the hub the Villains Unite the Night stage show began. Hades had a prophecy to fulfill and he met some of our favorite Disney Villains to help him. Jafar, the Evil Queen, Dr. Facilier, and Maleficent took turns coming to the stage. Each projecting a different image on Cinderella’s castle. The show was around 20 minutes, but not once did it ever drag. The show kept my attention throughout. It was so much fun to see. After the show we realized we did not have much time left. We headed straight to Pirates of the Caribbean. On our way there the music found in Adventureland had a much darker feel to it than you normally experience during a Disney day. It truly felt as if it were Halloween in June. The park was so dark and the music was great. Walking into the Pirates attraction we were greeted by a couple of pirates who warned us not to go any further if we wanted to stay safe on dry land. The actors were amazing and so much fun to engage with. We then rode the attraction. The attraction was just your standard attraction until just prior to the burning port scene. Up on the bridge there was a real-life pirate talking to us and letting Jack Sparrow know that we rather be part of his crew. I am not certain, but I really believe it could have been Captain Barbosa. Barbosa is were my brain immediately went to upon seeing and hearing this pirate. This little cameo made the ride all that much more memorable. We only had minutes left until the party was to conclude and we knew we had just enough time for one more attraction. There is only one ride we could think of enjoying since it felt as if it were Halloween. The Haunted Mansion was so beautiful lit up and the pet cemetery was lit in a green light that I honestly have never noticed before. I could be wrong, but it may have just been lit that way because of the event. The lighting on the façade just made it creepier. It was wonderful. As we were about to exit the Magic Kingdom, we saw that Gaston, Cruella De Vil, Lady Tremaine, and Captain Hook were up on the Main Street Train Station just engaging with the guests. It was so much fun hearing Gaston just keep telling the ladies how much they all love him and just keep flexing because everyone one wanted to see him. Lady Tremaine and Cruella De Vil were also fun to see. Cruella pointed out a few people who were there Disney Bounding her. Disney Bound is when someone wears regular clothing inspired by a Disney character. The event concluded and we could just keep saying on how cool and fun that event was. I wish we didn’t spend so much time waiting to ride Space Mountain. That would have given us more time for some more photo ops, but the event was so great overall. We definitely would do it again if Disney decides to bring it back next summer. |
Our vacation planners their children and yes, even some of our Tink’s clients, have written about their experiences in the Neverland Blog. The magic of Disney comes alive in an immediate way when our children visit the Land of Mickey and Minnie.
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